Comments on: A Little Latitude

By: KTG

KTG — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:13:57 +0000

I think it’s going to be one of those things that people hesitate with that slowly becomes main stream. You bring up a lot of good points like the methodology of simply “turning it off” is not so simple when interacting with individuals who can ask questions. Plus I already feel “tracked”, cameras on the expressway, at red lights, my car’s GPS knows where I am and can shut off my car/lock the doors, everything one does online can be tracked, etc. I’ll definitely consult justaskgemalto.com for security issues before I jump on the bandwagon if I decide to.

By: Ronan

Ronan — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:03:05 +0000

Google’s entrance into the “friend finder” or location-based mobile social software market is a boon for the established players, as Google will increase mass-market awareness of these services, address privacy issues with the media and deliver on the promise of location-based mobile advertising through AdWords, to justify their investment.

These are all good things.

Ronan for Locle (www.locle.com)

By: Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS

Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:02:41 +0000

Granted, Google’s Latitude isn’t for everyone. Much has already been reported from the media about not wanting to be tracked. But these reports come from a demographic over 30 years of age. This may not be their target market.

This will be a fun to have add-on for our youth. Put yourself back in high school or college. You never really cared if people knew where you were…in fact, you wanted to be found if something better was going on.

In addition, parents will most likely embrace this to follow their children’s whereabouts. Now the teenagers won’t like this, but the parents will. Now we all know in advance what the teenagers will do to avoid this “tracking”…simply leave the phone in the car or give it to a friend to take somewhere else when they don’t want their parents to track them. But for the most part, they will have it on their person…

For me, no thanks. However, for others, it is just another cool product that people will play around with and have fun with…

By: Google Latitude : Le buzz de la semaine ou une véritable innovation ? at :: DMY ::

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:06:22 +0000

[...] twitter sur le sujet et en commentant chez Fred Cavazza (qui dit en gros que “bof”) et Mobhappy (qui dit que c’est mal) que je me suis rendu compte que ce qui continue a me laisser perplexe [...]

By: Russell Buckley

Russell Buckley — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:55:43 +0000

David – thanks for the comment.

Certainly the operators could break it (either inadvertently or deliberately), but Google would surely just tune into the new Cell IDs? Also Google is increasingly using wifi to get accurate feeds and this is largely outside the domain of operators too.

Russell

By: David

David — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:37:57 +0000

Well it might bypass the operators but any operator can break it by redefining the cell IDs. This is already likely to happen in the UK as operators move towards mast sharing.

By: Ian Tindale

Ian Tindale — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:38:19 +0000

I put it into iGoogle and it says “not available in your location”. What’s the bloody point in that, then?

By: Carlo Longino

Carlo Longino — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:25:21 +0000

I agree with what you’re saying, Russell, I do find this slightly creepy as well. That said, Latitude does allow you to switch off the auto updates and hide your location or set it manually.

By: DMY

DMY — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:17:10 +0000

even paranoid have real ennemies

By: AC

AC — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:15:29 +0000

Isn’t that funny — I’ve just downloaded the new Google Maps for Mobile with Latitude and I feel *exactly* the same way as you do!

Part of it for me is that it’s a Google service, and I’m always a bit hesitant to share more personal information with them. Call me paranoid too, I guess